Friday, September 28, 2012

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! I am so happy that Friday is here - should be a good day at work.

But no one wants to talk about work, let's talk about fun. I have another fun and easy card to share with you featuring more awesome Raisin Boat stamps.

This looks like a bookmark, but it's really on a white base. Just too closely cropped. My card features Oops a Daisy stamp set. As I said, a lovely CAS card with bold color. I like it, it makes me feel happy.

Remember, there is still time to join us for the Raisin Boat 3D challenge - you don't have to use Raisin Boat stamps, you can use whatever you like. The prize is a stamp set from Raisin Boat! See you there.

Hi everyone! Happy Thursday. I hope you're week has been good to you, mine hasn't been too bad. We moved back upstairs and the new desks aren't horrible. A little smaller but livable. So it's a good week.

I think Fall is moving into the Florida area. It's still heating up during the day, but the mornings have been significantly cooler. It's been really nice. So with this little bit of cooler weather, it makes is super fun to bring to this week's challenge from Delightful Challenges. This week we're using...

HALLOWEEN COLORS

My card features Spidey Kiddles and Spooktacular Digi Paper...

Isn't this great fun? I love how it turned out.

I had some extra pieces left from when I printed off the digi paper, so I added to the inside of the card to dress up that up a little. I am really happy with all the layers and Spidey Kiddles is easy to color and so darn cute! My card layout was inspired by the sketch on iSpySketches. What do you think?

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Good Morning! La la la it's Tuesday! And that means Mean People Monday is over and it wasn't so bad yesterday. I had one guy that was yelling like an idiot and he still relented that he'd have to provide necessary information and after that the day went by really quick. I mean seriously, one minute it was 8:00 the next is 11:00 and the next it was 3:00. It was awesome!

This week's rockin' sketch and DT line-up is posted and let me tell you it is AWESOME! Our sponsor is There She Goes stamps (squeal) and the sketch we're playing with this week is by Theresa.

I had so much fun with this card. It's a lot of red, but I love it!

It's a bit early for Christmas, but that's OK, I was super happy to pull out this set and play with dies and stamps. I actually used two sets. Warmest Wishes (w/dies) and Fabulous. I had this one piece of paper that was just enough to do the base of this card and it matched the card stock colors from Raisin Boat perfectly!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Good Morning! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Mine was OK. I got a lot of crafting done, so that was fun. Did a bit of cleaning, that's not so fun. Talked to my Mom, she's doing fine. She's really happy and loves it in Eros, LA. I give it another month and she'll be clawing at the walls to go into the city (a REAL city) to go out to lunch and shopping. Haha!! She's already complaining about the internet service.

So please cross your fingers and toes and anything else you can cross for me - I'm really hoping today isn't a Mean People Monday. But it's always nice here. This week's challenge is up at Paper Pretties and this week we're using Fall colors. Yay! This week we have a new release from Fawn and a re-release from ARTish. I'm using ARTish's image: Patches....

Please forgive me, I was a little off my game this morning. I hadn't had enough coffee. This didn't turn out as grand as it was in my head. But nonetheless, my favorite Fall colors and Patches is too cute. I did use a fun sketch from Unscripted Sketches.

Well, have a happy Monday and I'll see you tomorrow for the TMS challenge.

Friday, September 21, 2012

I have a Raisin Boat project to share with you today, I hope you like it....

This is a really easy CAS card and fairly monochrome. I guess I can't really say that since there's a bit of black on the card. But this is a fun a simple card, quick to make which is perfect for those moments when you need a birthday card on short notice.

Just a reminder, be sure to visit the Raisin Boat blog to join us for this month's 3D challenge. There are new play rules, you don't have to use Raisin Boat stamps. You can use anything you'd like, BUT if you do use Raisin Boat on your entries, it counts as two!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Good Morning! How are you? I'm doing well, the week so far hasn't been too bad. I did have a Mean People Monday, some woman had the audacity and the immaturity to tell that I suck because I wasn't able to help her. A few others just hung up on me. I would really like to understand where people feel they have license to speak with customer service people like their less than dogs. But after that Tuesday and Wednesday were much better.

Now let's talk about the challenge this week at Delightful Challenges. This week we're going Distressed. I took this challenge as far as I dared to take it. I tried to go even more, but the stuff I got was garbage. Come on, I'll show you.

I made this adorable Christmas decoration. I got this cheap ($1.99) wooden tile tray. I painted it a chocolate brown and then applied Crackle Medium. This was the part that was garbage. I do not recommend DecoArt One Step. But anyway, after the crackle medium dried I painted it again with ivory. It did crackle a tiny bit and in a couple of areas I sanded the paint to bring the brown to the foreground.

I used dies from MFT and inked everything to give it an aged look. I printed and colored up Sledding Noah (my favorite Christmas image) and then inked him, too.

I got the flowers from the $1 bin at Michaels. The white poinsettias I aged with a bit of watered down Close to Cocoa ink. I mixed that up in a mini-mister and sprayed it. I got a bit more brown than intended, but overall, it still works.

Here you can see the doily die cut that I inked up twice and then cut the word JOY by loading a Olde London font I got for free from DaFont.com and then cut with my new electronic cutter. Yes, Shell, I ordered an eCraft. I'm still learning how to use it, but I like it so far.

I hope you like what I created to share with you and that it inspires you to step out and let yourself go like I did. I had a lot of fun creating this. Many hugs to you all.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Good Morning! It's Tuesday and that means it's a whole week before Monday comes around again and it's time to post a new challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches.

This week's challenge is sponsored by Guylou's Inimitability. I had a lot of fun coloring up this sweet image, this basket of apples covered with sunflowers is perfect for this time of year.

I did flip the sketch to accommodate the orientation of the image. I kept the whole design very simple and some lovely hues of Fall. I did use a leaf die for my background, I cut it in half to create a semi swag. I also masked off the main image so that I could ink the image for a bit of distressing. It's just as easy to create a mask from a digi image as it is to using a rubber stamp. It's a couple of steps, but not hard. Print the image on your card stock to ready your card. Then print it another time on a piece of paper and cut it out. Or print it out, then place a sticky note over that and print again. That way you have the stickiness of the note. The only thing with this technique and printing on a sticky note, they're coated a little so the ink doesn't dry completely so it could smear a little. Just be careful.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Good Morning! Welcome to Paper Pretties Monday. While you can visit me here and leave kind words, I'll be returning to work after being off the last 5 days, only to listen to mean people yell at me because they messed up their account. * sigh * I really need a new job. One closer to home and working with numbers again. Numbers don't argue or yell.

Enough about my Monday blues. Let's talk about something fun - like this week's challenge at Paper Pretties. This week is an easy one, Use Ribbon. That's darn near every card we make, right? So here's my card featuring a sweet little image by Fawn. This is Me & My Teddy....

Remember what I said about not being able to use Brights very well. I think, overall, the card is cute but might have turned out a bit nicer in a different arrangement of colors. But I am challenging myself to play along with Just Us Girls (use rainbow colors) and a fun sketch from Sassy Studio Designs. Be kind, but honest when leaving me comments. I'm certainly not expecting Chic of the Week or winning any prizes. But you can if you play along with us at Paper Pretties challenge and you're allowed to combine other challenges, too.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Good Morning! Happy Saturday! It's the 15th of the month (already!) so that means there's a new challenge at Raisin Boat this month. This one is brought to you by our leader, Linda. Fabulous choice, too. What is it, you ask? Well, this month we're making it....

This was fun to make - a little challenging, but that's why we do this. I stamped the focal image first on Brighton White card stock and then cut it out with a circle cutter. I don't own any circle dies, I'm still using the circle template cutters by Creative Memories. They work for me. So I don't have the ease of inking using the die as a stencil. I have to create my own. It's a little off, but hey, I'm a little off so we're a good match! LOL So to ink it, I create my own stencil with some scrap card stock and then created a mask with a sticky note to cover the focal image and then inked. I then stamped the dog a second time and fussy cut him out so I could pop him up. My other 3D element is the embossing. Easy!

Here's a side view, the dog is on dimensionals and then the whole main image is. I didn't go over the top 3D but I am still pleased with the results. Be sure to check out what the rest of the team made and join us for the challenge. You have a whole month to do it and there's a Raisin Boat stamp set up for grabs. Click here for the Raisin Boat blog.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Good evening everyone. A wee bit late with my post tonight. It's been a busy, yet productive day. I got a few projects done for one design team (not near what I have to do, though), my grocery shopping done, some sketches drawn up while Hollyanne was at dance making up a couple of classes and now I have a finished card to share with you. I previously said that my usual Wednesday PMS post would be rescheduled to Saturday, well, I got it done for tonight.

I created this card using the great sketch from iSpy Sketches. What a fun sketch challenge! You know I love sketches.

My card features the adorable Fairy Jill. What a lovely fairy she is, too! I love her little denim bermuda shorts and her sweet little sneakers. Be sure to visit her at the Paper Makeup Stamps store. She may even still be available in rubber. There are still a few available in rubber that Katie has slashed prices.

I am also entering this in the Raise the Bar challenge - I Believe I Can Fly. Fairies can fly.

I hope you're enjoying your Friday night, it's so early but I am wiped out. I think tonight calls for a glass of wine followed up by a book in bed.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

This week's challenge for Delightful Challenges is a fun one. This week we're making Anything but a Card. This challenge is a lot of fun because you can really let loose and start altering anything you want. This is also the perfect time to start working on those Halloween treats. I went with altering a little notebook.

I kept this one pretty simple because I mean for this to be in my purse, so I kept the embellishments to a minimum.

Good Morning! Happy Thursday! Well, Mom and Franklin are still here in town. The apartment is almost empty. I anticipate that they'll leave tomorrow afternoon, if not Friday morning.

The MTME Pretty Pattern #71 is up and ready for you to play! You really should join us - if you play along all month (#70, #71, #72 & #73) you could win a Pretty Package. Nice prize because we all know just a fun Lauren's pretty packaging is. Oh my goodness, did you see what she posted a couple of days ago? Wow!! It's a tank in honor of our military. Trust me, you will see these pictures and will only be able to utter a single syllable - WOW!

OK - let's get's sketchy. Here's my card....

I feel like I cheated a little. I made this card entirely out of the fabulous digi paper pack Plum Pretties. This paper coordinates with So Fortunate. But with the great designs in the paper I didn't need to add anything else. I had this card together in under 15 minutes and that was with a couple of interruptions.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Good Morning - well, almost afternoon. I'm off the rest of the week - whoo-hoo!! So my post is a little late today and it's usually the Paper Makeup post, which is rescheduled to this Saturday.

I have a project to share with you today with a bit of reluctance. Last night my Mom got married and is loading up a truck as we speak to move to Louisiana with her new husband. This is supposed to be a joyous occasion and it may have been if she had told us that she's been chatting with this man for a little while (and I do mean, a little while) let alone marrying him. To top it off, she announced on Facebook that she was getting married. Needless to say, it came as a HUGE surprise.

But, my Mom is very headstrong and she's decided that this is where her life's road is leading her and she seems to be very happy. They had a little ceremony in a park next to a big, old tree. The weather was beautiful and breezy.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to talk my Mom out of this, I set out to make her small wedding gift. With my trip to My Favorite Things stamp store over the weekend, I was able to pick up a few more items for my idea I had in head. I came up with this....

I shared a frame a week or so ago that is similar to this using stamps from Raisin Boat. I wanted to create another one but with more 3D elements. I bought a Royal Rolled Rose Die-namic about a month ago, so picked up the sizes smaller from the MFT store. And some felt.

Here you see it a little closer up for the details. I was going to put pearls around the oval opening, but Levi pulled out the baubles and started placing them. I didn't tell him that I had different plans because he's been so broken-hearted about his Nonnie moving away. It about killed me last night when Brendan gave my Mom away and Levi started sobbing. Then Hollyanne joined him. So I let Levi have a design say hoping that he felt a part of the gift it would be easier for him to handle.

Here's a close up of the flowers. A word of caution on using the Die-Namics dies with felt. There is so much fine detail in the dies (which is fantastic) that in smaller places the felt easily comes apart. I didn't notice that this had happened until I started tweaking these photos for posting. I have fixed it, but just saying, that when you use the dies, be very careful with the thinner parts of the felt cut piece.

I have to say I am now officially a Hooked-on-MFT-Gal. LOVE love love the dies and felt. The stamps are great, too, I just don't have but two sets in my possession. If you're ever in the Eustis, FL area be sure to stop by Kim's sweet shop and have fun just looking at all the gorgeous craft candy she has to offer and don't forget to stop at the button bar!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Good Morning! It's Tuesday, one of my favorite days of the week. You know why, right? Because it means Mean People Monday is over at work and because we have a new sketch up at Tuesday Morning Sketches. This week's sketch was created by DT Member Dawn Barghorn. I think you're going to find it a lot of fun and very versatile. Be sure to check out all the samples from the DT and you'll see what I mean.

Our challenge this week is sponsored by Designed2Delight and it's the Judged Challenge week so we have an added twist to the challenge....

Welcome Fall!

I wish Fall existed here in FL. I want the blazing colors of golds, yellows, oranges and red. I want the crispness in the air. But I can only get it on a card.

I chose an adorable digi set from Designed2Delight called Fall Mailbox. It does come with a couple of versions, the one I used and another that looks exactly like this one except there is a bird on the pumpkin to the right. There are also sentiments, but I chose to stamp my one.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Good Morning! It's Monday and it's a short week for me. I work today and tomorrow and then I am off the next 5 days!! Whoo-hoo!!

So this week's challenge is up at Paper Pretties and this week we're making Birthday cards. I had so much fun with this new image by ARTish. I knew immediately that I wanted to make the cupcake and candle stand out. Then, having spent Saturday at the My Favorite Things store, I found out that I can play along with their Wednesday sketches and not have to use their images. So I coupled this cute image with their awesome sketch.

Isn't he cute? This is Lumiere. I love the sweet colors, too. I also really like the sentiments that accompany this little guy, I love the handwritten font.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Hello. Happy Sunday evening. I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend. I sure did! I went yesterday to the My Favorite Things store for a class. I'll share all about that later this week. Let me just say, AWESOME!

OK - I've thought and thought about this post and project and really debated on whether I should do this or not. Scor-Pal announced a Design Team call and I wasn't so sure this was something that I should apply for. Afterall, I do have quite a bit of design work on my plate plus running two challenge blogs. But then I thought that there isn't a single one of my cards that doesn't start out without Scor-Pal. It's the 2nd tool I grab after the paper cutter in most cases. And when I am creating packaging, it's the only strong adhesive I own. So, one thing for sure is I am a great cheerleader for the company.

Here's the card I created for my application....

I own the original Scor-Pal score board and I own Scor-Tape. That's it. So what can I do with that? I made this card, and I think it turned out rather pretty. Oh! I did pre-order the Scor-Envi but that hasn't come yet, I can't wait!

So the first thing I did was, of course, score my base card. Then I cut a mat piece and then scored diagonally to create a cross-hatch background. Easy texture. The next element was to create the rosette. I cut two 1.25 x 6 pieces of white card stock. I scored at every half inch on one side, then flipped it over and lined it up so I can score between the lines for 1/4" score lines. Because I have the original board the only quarter line I could use is 4 1/4. So I scored at 4 1/4 then moved that line to 4" and then scored every 1/2" again. Now it's scored perfectly at 1/4" intervals and it the score lines are opposite so this makes it super easy to do the fan fold. Then I applied Scor-Tape to the ends and stuck it together to create a circle and then press down to create the rosette. Then I layered on my focal image and ribbon and finished off with a sentiment.

I used a sweet freebie image from Saturated Canary. I am loving these images. I must get a few more to play with. I love the eyes.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Good Morning! And what a lovely Thursday this is. It is also time for another challenge at Delightful Challenges and there's a new release. I'm sure you've seen the new digis in the store already - they are certainly adorable.

So this week's challenge, we're doing.... HALLOWEEN

For my card, I am using Spidey Kiddles. I know he's dressed up as a spider, but he reminded me of my youngest son, Levi, when he was little we dressed him up as bumble bee. The costume was fit him much like this one fits this little boy.

I used a great sketch from The Sweet Sketch and combined it with some great Halloween papers that I got at Michaels a few years ago. I love the web paper, don't you?

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Hello! How is everyone doing. I cannot tell you how happy I am that yesterday is over, it was busy busy busy yesterday at work and the hard part was I was so sleepy I had a hard time keeping my eyes open even if the calls were back to back.

Enough about me, let's talk about what has me excited today! My card features a digi stamp and I just know Katie made this for me! LOL She didn't really, but in my world she did. This is Fairy Melissa....

I showed this to my daughter and she said, "she looks like you Momma." I laughed and told her that this fairy is named Melissa. She laughed, too. Now I paired her with a sweet little sketch from Just Us Girls. I should've gone a little more over the top with this card, this one is pretty simple and follows the sketch exactly.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Good Morning! Happy Tuesday. I'm not really looking forward today at work - I'm sure it's going to be a busy one. But one good thing, it'll go by fast.

But a highlight to the day is it's Tuesday and we have a fun sketch up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and we're sponsored by our sweet friend Laurie Wilson, owner of Doodle Pantry. I love her Birdies - they're so sweet! I used School Birdie - the pre-colored version and the digi paper that was included in the stamp set.

I made the button but I couldn't get the right grip on the Crop-o-dile to get the holes in the right spot. Still cute though. And who cares about the button when you've got a cutie as your focal point.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Good Morning! Happy Monday! It is a pretty happy Monday, too, most of us in the U.S. are off work today which means time in the craft room (corner, in my case). Yippee!! I have a lot of design work to catch up on.

This week's challenge is up for Paper Pretties and there's new digis in the store by ARTish and Fawn. I'm playing with Wynne by ARTish.

SQUARES! Make a square card.

Now, these aren't typically my favorite to do because it's impossible to get an envelope. But help is on the way! I got an email from the lovely owners of Scor-Pal and they've got a new angle tool that has all the right marks and printed measurements to help create your own envelopes. Scor-Envi will help you make 12 different sizes of envelopes and it's only $6.99. I shouldn't have, but I pre-ordered one. I can't wait! Matching envelopes coming soon. LOL!

So here's my square card...

I stuck with a black, white and grey color scheme because it worked so well with Wynne's crossword puzzle. I made the felt flower with some old dies from Cuttlebug and the b/w gingham is from a digi paper pack I got from A Cherry on Top. I put it all together using a great sketch from Totally Papercrafts. I am very pleased with the results.

Use coupon code: STMMMS93171

About Me

I am a mother of 3 amazing young adults! I am a proud momma of a Navy Sailor, a 2nd year college student and a boy entering college soon. In my spare time, I love to cook, read, stamp and make 3D paper projects. I've been a papercrafter for 22+ years and I love every minute of it. I decided I didn't have enough to do, so I also "own" a challenge blog, Tuesday Morning Sketches.
If you need to reach me, please feel free to email me at stampedbym@gmail.com

Copyright 2006-2018

All cards, scrapbook pages, photographs and text are owned by Melissa Craig. I have created the cards and pages with copyrighted material (Papertrey Ink, DRS Designs, MFT Stamps, Hero Arts and many others) and are for personal use only. I share these ideas with you, you are free to CASE the cards but ask that you do not submit for contests or publication. Also, please give credit where credit is due. If you CASE something of mine, please tell others where you got the idea. Thanks!! Happy Stamping and inky hugs.